Can cleaning toilets really be important?

I had a bit of an epiphany this morning when I was cleaning toilets.  I’ve read a lot of books and blogs and articles on the importance of motherhood, and it isn’t difficult for me to believe that the parts of my job as a mother that involve teaching and loving my children are very important.  So important that I’m really scared sometimes that I don’t have what it takes. That I’ll totally mess up the most important thing I’ll ever do. 

BUT.  

I’ve always had a little bit of a hard time with the vast number of really mundane chores that seem to consume my life.  I can feel eternal significance in reading Frog and Toad stories to my kids.  I feel it when I’m tucking them into bed at night and cooking oatmeal for their breakfast.  But sweeping the floor multiple times a day?  Hanging out 73 socks every other day?  Wiping the finger prints off the windows when I know it will be impossible to tell that I did it in five minutes?  Straightening up my pantry shelves AGAIN? 

These are the things that can make me feel kind of unuseful in the world.  Honestly, about 75% of my life is spent doing things that are just plain temporary.  They will need to be done again tomorrow and again next week and again next month.  

Sometimes people try to tell us that the only things that are important are the big things with obvious eternal rewards.  Like traveling overseas as a missionary or dying for your faith.  (I’ve always wanted to be an overseas missionary, so I’m most certainly not trying to make light of or cheapen that work.  It’s an incredibly important one.) 

Sometimes people try to tell us that the only really important part of our job as mothers is the times when we are intentionally spending time with our kids.  Playing with them or listening to them or going somewhere with them.  I have a contention with that philosophy.  For family life to continue harmoniously, there is a certain amount of effort that needs to be put into food, clothing, and cleanliness.

This is what I’m trying to say:  Sometimes faithfulness in the ordinary, mundane things that feel unimportant can require a great deal of grit.  Sometimes tackling the mess in the storage room can take a great deal of courage.  Sometimes staying pleasant throughout a morning when everything goes wrong, from the broken shoelace to the gallon of spilled milk to the falls of the two-year-old, takes a grace that can’t be manufactured on our own.  

Sometimes we want so much to do something important, only to realize later that we were doing it all along.  We just didn’t recognize it.  

I’m not suggesting obsessing over our housework or choosing a clean house over relationships or Pinterest decor over happy children. People always need to come first, but life simply requires a lot of moves that can feel pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

This was my epiphany this morning:  I can go through my days as a mother, cleaning up spills, kissing ouchies, cooking supper, and totally miss the beauty in it all.  I can miss the fact that by serving my family with love, I am serving Jesus.  Or I can do even the most despised chore cheerfully,  because I love my family that much.  Jesus did incredibly menial tasks on when he was on earth.  If He could wash feet, surely I can wash the toilet and the floor with good grace because I love Him.